Core French students and Mme Aubin at St. Mary Catholic School in Capreol were walking around with paper fish stuck to their backs – on purpose – on April Fool’s Day. Mme Aubin ensured that students were familiar with the French tradition of Poisson d’Avril. In France, it’s called April FISH Day. French children make paper fish and try to tape them to the backs of unsuspecting friends.

Although the origins of April Fool’s Day vary, it is widely accepted that the French calendar reform of the sixteenth century (in 1564 King Charles XIV of France moved the start of the year from the end of March to January 1) played an important role. However, news didn’t travel very quickly at that time and the uneducated lower class in rural areas were the last to hear of the reform. Those who failed to keep up with the change had jokes played on them – paper fish were taped to their backs.